God’s Choice of a Leader

KEY VERSE: “I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel.” —II Samuel 7:8

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: II Samuel 5:1-3; 7:8-16

AFTER David was anointed king over Israel, he reigned for forty years. During this time he was successful in defeating Israel’s enemies round about, and after considering the prosperity and comfort of his own situation, his thoughts were troubled about the mean conditions under which the ark of God was lodged. He determined to build a magnificent temple as a place for the ark and the Lord to dwell. He told the Prophet Nathan of his plan and the prophet assured him that the project would be pleasing to the Lord. However, this advice was given without consulting the Lord, and the Lord later appeared to Nathan and instructed him to tell David not to build the temple.

But the Lord did make a wonderful promise to David that through his offspring would come the seed who would be the deliverer of Israel and the world of mankind in the kingdom. The promise is recorded in II Samuel 7:11-16, “The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. … My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” This promise came to be known as “The sure mercies of David.”

The promise was repeated many times in the prophecies and the psalms, and as the Lord intended, it came to be synonymous with the promise of the Messiah. One of these assurances to David is in Psalm 89:3,4 which reads, “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” Another prophecy is found in Psalm 132:10-14, “For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David: he will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore. For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”

In the fullness of time God revealed the identity of this long-promised seed of David. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce she was to be the mother of Jesus, he said, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”—Luke 1:30-33.

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus could not inherit the throne of David at his first advent while he was still a man, even though he was the seed of David after the flesh. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus as king in the kingdom will be after the order of Melchisedec which Paul says by interpretation means, “king of righteousness, and king of peace.” (Heb. 7:1,2,14-17; Ps. 110:4) He also indicates this order of kingship is not of the flesh but of the spirit, even though the subjects of the kingdom will be here on the earth. He sums up the matter in Hebrews 8:3,4. In essence Paul is saying in these scriptures that Jesus in his kingdom will function as a priest and king, but he could not be a priest in the flesh here on the earth because “it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood, and it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there adseth another priest.”—Heb. 7:14,15; Acts 13:32-37

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